Reporting from Washington— President Obama plans to announce a troop reduction in Afghanistan that Pentagon and other administration officials say is expected to bring home about 10,000 personnel by the end of the year.

In a speech to be delivered Wednesday, the president is expected to declare that successes in disrupting Al Qaeda's ability to stage attacks against the United States allow him to begin reducing troop levels, said the officials, who cautioned that Obama was still "finalizing" his decision. In 2009 the president coupled his decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan

I can deny it easy, he'll just take whatever he saved and spend on leaches and people on welfare.

AmPat

06-21-2011, 06:02 PM

This will help our budget problem, that much you cannot deny.

Like say, a peace dividend?:rolleyes:

Elspeth

06-21-2011, 09:48 PM

10K? That's chump change. He can replace that with troops from Iraq or with Blackwater/Xe.

This is pure PR for the liberal base. He's afraid of the left staying home this election because he's done nothing for them. (Don't tell me about Obamacare: the left HATES that bill.) Oblahblah has backed off on gay rights (guess who has LOTS of expendable income for political campaigns and votes). The blacks are mad at him too. The anti-war left see Obama as a Pentagon tool. (Yeah, go figure.)

Anyway, this is just PR.

Odysseus

06-22-2011, 12:06 PM

This will help our budget problem, that much you cannot deny.
We've been cutting defense as a percentage of GDP since the 50s, but the debt has been increasing, and if we leave without eliminating the jihadis, then we'll just have to go back when they launch another terror attack on us, which will be more expensive in the long run. Surrendering only looks cheap, but it costs far more than victory.

10K? That's chump change. He can replace that with troops from Iraq or with Blackwater/Xe.

This is pure PR for the liberal base. He's afraid of the left staying home this election because he's done nothing for them. (Don't tell me about Obamacare: the left HATES that bill.) Oblahblah has backed off on gay rights (guess who has LOTS of expendable income for political campaigns and votes). The blacks are mad at him too. The anti-war left see Obama as a Pentagon tool. (Yeah, go figure.)

Anyway, this is just PR.

Absolutely. And with what he's spent on Libya, it's not like we're saving much.

txradioguy

06-22-2011, 01:52 PM

This will help our budget problem, that much you cannot deny.

Yes we can deny that.

How about we reign in the out of control spending on the precious Liberal entitlements (65% of the total federal budget) before we start cutting from a part of the budget that is actually beneficial and works.

txradioguy

06-22-2011, 01:57 PM

Reporting from Washington— President Obama plans to announce a troop reduction in Afghanistan that Pentagon and other administration officials say is expected to bring home about 10,000 personnel by the end of the year.

In a speech to be delivered Wednesday, the president is expected to declare that successes in disrupting Al Qaeda's ability to stage attacks against the United States allow him to begin reducing troop levels, said the officials, who cautioned that Obama was still "finalizing" his decision. In 2009 the president coupled his decision to send an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan

This is more of a paper move than anything. The next Brigade due to rotate home...just won't be replaced. Instead of sending four combat brigades on the next rotation...the DoD has announced only three for the upcoming rotation.

That right there cuts 5,000 soldiers form theatre. You do that for the next round in FY '12 and you've got your "10,000 soldier reduction".

This isn't some big grand move where you'll see long convoys of men and equipment heading to Kandahar to get shipped home...just units who'd been preparing to deploy standing down.

And by the way...Obama is doing this against the wishes of his top military advisors and Generals in the Pentagon.

The ability of the Afghan security forces to defend their own country is very fragile right now and Obama is pulling the plug on extra support right when they need it the most.

It's like pulling the training wheels off of your kids bike before they know how to ride on two wheels.

Odysseus

06-22-2011, 02:08 PM

The ability of the Afghan security forces to defend their own country is very fragile right now and Obama is pulling the plug on extra support right when they need it the most.

It's like pulling the training wheels off of your kids bike before they know how to ride on two wheels.